1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to retaining means for holding a card in position thereof, and particularly to a retainer with horizontally rotative locking device for latching or unlatching the card therein.
2. The Related Art
The locking device for use with a card-like board in a card edge connector is generally of an ejector which is rotatably moved with regard to the housing of the connector wherein the ejector includes a locking protrusion at the top for latching the card-like board in the connector housing when such ejector is in a vertical locking position or for unlatching the card-like board from the connector housing when such ejector is in an slanted open position. This conventional card edge connectors and their retaining devices can be referred to U.S. Pat Nos. 5,429,523, 5,443,394, 5,445,531, 5,470,242, and 5,558,528. One disadvantage of this type retention mechanism of the card edge connector has been found that the rotation direction of the retainer/ejector is actuated generally in the same direction of the withdrawal direction of the card, i.e., the upward direction with regard to the centrally lengthwise axis of the housing. From another viewpoint, the insertion/withdrawal path of the card and the latching/unlatching rotation path of ejector are substantially on the same plane which is a vertical plane along the lengthwise axis of the housing. Thus, under a great vibration or an unintentional impact, the retainer/ejector may be pushed from its original vertical locking position to its slanted open position by the card, and loses its originally designed locking function.
Therefore, an object of the invention is to provide a retainer which may cooperate with a card edge connector for holding therein a card wherein the retention device can reliably and efficiently retain the card without the possibility of inadvertent disengagement of the card from the retainer.